Here’s a sentence I never expected to say: Bizzarrini has announced a new car. Now, there are two typical responses to that sentence. One is your eyes lighting up like you just received a bicycle on Christmas day, the other is wondering what the hell a Bizzarrini is. If you fall into that second camp, don’t worry. We’re here to help.
In the beginning, there was Bizzarrini, the man. Giotto Bizzarrini wasn’t your average kid from a wealthy background. He aspired to build cars, and build cars he did. After studying engineering and having a brief stint at Alfa Romeo, he joined Ferrari and started having a hand in some of the finest cars the world has ever seen. Bizzarrini was involved in the 250 Testa Rossa, the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, and the 250 GT 2+2. In its early stages, the Ferrari 250 GTO was developed by Bizzarrini using his personal 250 GT. As far as legendary Ferraris go, he helped a solid number of them along. However, his stint at Ferrari wouldn’t last.
In 1961, the fight happened. According to GP Today, Ferrari’s management team was tired of arguing with Enzo Ferrari’s wife Laura Dominica Garello about the business, and members, including Bizzarrin, split from the prancing horse, almost killing Ferrari in the process. Facing an uncertain future, Bizzarrini and his colleagues set up shop as Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS for short), and ended up building the holy grail of Ferrari 250s.
In 1962, Enzo Ferrari was a bit cross with Count Giovanni Volpi and wouldn’t sell him a 250 GTO. No problem, Count Volpi would make his own, presumably with blackjack and hookers. He enlisted Bizzarrini and the team at ATS to convert a regular 250 GT into a 250 GTO. However, things got a little crazier than that with a coachbuilt body that featured a dramatic kammtail. The Breadvan was born, and it scored multiple class wins in its inaugural racing season.
In addition to the Breadvan, something else important happened in 1962 – Bizzarrini set up a firm for freelance engineering projects. He soon got a call from someone who was very cross with Enzo Ferrari, one Ferruccio Lamborghini. Lamborghini needed an engine, and he was allegedly willing to pay Bizzarrini a bonus for every horsepower this engine made over Ferrari’s V12. The result was a twelve-cylinder masterpiece. It was capable of 11,000 rpm, and was continually revised and punched out from 3.5 liters to 6.5 liters in a production run that spanned more than four and a half decades. Every V12 Lamborghini from the first 3500GT to the last Murcielago used a version of Bizzarini’s V12, which means you could honestly say that without Bizzarrini, Lamborghini might not be the company it is today.
So, some of the most iconic Ferraris ever made and the legacy of Lamborghini. What else did Bizzarrini have his hand in? In addition to helping Iso Rivolta, he also made cars, the most famous of which was the 5300 GT.
If you’re expecting the 5300 GT to feature some fire-breathing V12, check your expectations at the door. This coupe was a brilliant combination of Italian design with American hardware. Under the hood sat a Chevrolet 327 V8 tucked as far back in the engine bay as possible, which drove the rear wheels through a Borg-Warner T-10 manual gearbox. The result was Ferrari-like pace without the Ferrari-like fiddliness. It’s a vintage Italian high-performance car that in theory, simply works. What’s more, it came clothed in some wild Giugiaro-styled bodywork.
Sadly, Bizzarrini S.p.A only lasted from 1964 until 1969, after which it closed up shop and Bizzarrini, the man, set about taking part in some other projects. However, after roughly five decades of dormancy, Bizzarrini the marque is back.
Owned by a Saudi Arabian car dealer and with facilities in the U.K., the new Bizzarrini isn’t quite as Italian as the old Bizzarrini. However, it does force a raised eyebrow or two with its rather unique business plan. Currently, Bizzarrini is building revival versions of the old 5300 GT, but it expects to soon start development on a brand new supercar called the Giotto that promises a bit of an old-school recipe.
Instead of a downsized V8, expect to see a full-fat naturally-aspired V12 behind the driver, one that’s of Bizzarrini’s own design. That sounds a bit shocking considering the impending combustion engine ban in Europe, but Bizzarrini’s looking to send the dino-burning era out with a bang. Said engine will be attached to an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and the whole car will be clocked in pleasant carbon fiber bodywork penned by Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro. Sounds like a good formula if you ask me.
There’s proper talent behind the reborn firm too. Chief Technology Officer Chris Porritt has experience at Aston Martin, Rimac, and Tesla, while CEO Ian Fenton previously worked at Ford of Europe, Jaguar Land Rover, and Aston Martin.
Testing is said to start in 2024 and specs of the Bizzarrini Giotto are expected to be released closer to that time. While I’d love to see Bizzarrini succeed, it could all go horribly wrong, as is often the fate of supercar startups. Think the perpetually-delayed reborn TVR, for example. Still, as far as news to lighten your day goes, a new Bizzarrini is pretty good. Wouldn’t it be lovely if it succeeds?
(Lead photo credit: Bizzarrini)
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That damn bread van! I stopped reading right there.
Ferraris of that time were georgeous.This thing is an awkward monstrosity
The Bizzarrini 5300 is one of my favorite cars ever!! In 1990 some friends and I stopped for breakfast on highway 99 near Monterey. It was pebble beach weekend, maybe 7am at some run down diner in a strip mall…. As we left, I looked down the row of faded storefronts, and to my absolute astonishment there was some guy unloading laundry from the back of a Bizzarrini 5300! There was a paper coffee cup sitting on the roof as he casually pulled dirty clothes from the trunk and carried them into a dingy laundromat. To this day I dream of living that kind of life.
The drawing for this new model does not interest me in the least. Another painfully boring, over-stylized, style over substance hypercar that adds over-stylized marketing crap that slows the car down to look “cool”. We have a crapload of them already. With partial exceptions being the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut and McClaren Speedtail, at least(they actually have decent Cd values for the amount of downforce provided, both being below 0.28 Cd, about matching the 1921 Rumpler Tropfenwagen, with a century of technological development since).
When the 250 GTO Breadvan was designed, aero was a major focus in order to maximize the top speed reached on the straights. It also weighed significantly less than a modern Miata.
This supposed Bizzarrini thing? It has easily 2x as much drag as it needs for its function just looking at all of those creases and vents, most of which are probably for looks(as tends to be the case for most hypercars). Who wants to make a bet it comes standard with heated seats, heated steering wheel, touchcreen infotainment centers, leather upholstery, power seats that weigh 80+ lbs each, premium sound system, hundreds of pounds of sound deadener, power windows, and all sorts of other crap that does nothing but add mass to slow the car down? It would be a safe bet. And if true, it would run completely contrary to the ethos of Bizzarrini.
It appears very much non-functional, as hypercars commonly tend to be. I would not be surprised if its weight was approaching that of an SUV, as modern hypercars tend to do(the Jesko and Speedtail again being exceptions). If it bucked this trend and went for not-far-above-Miata mass, I’d be pleasantly surprised.
While I’ve been suffering from super car fatigue for what feels like years now, the fact that this is ICE and not a hybrid or EV makes me appreciate it & hope for its success!
Maybe I’m just old and jagged but that just does not excite me at all. All of these “revived” brands are startups buying themself a name but the teams, expertise and ethos of the original marque is all gone.
I like it better when newcomers start fresh (like Rimac for instance) and forge a name for themselves instead of just buying a cool copyright.
I honestly agree, this company can’t call themselves anything more than a tribute to Bizzarrini. Everyone that made the original company what it was is now gone, and with decades of absence from the market, there’s nothing left of the original Bizzarrini company except the cars they made, which are far too old to be updated for modern regulations if you wanted to build off of real heritage that way. Heck, the company isn’t even based in Italy. You can buy a name but you can’t buy history, and there’s no connection between Bizzarrini and the new Bizzarrini.
I feel the same way about Bugatti. It’s been thirty years and they’ve made some good stuff since but they bought the name and had no connection to the original company besides that.
5300 is one of the most beautiful cars ever built. This new one.. meh. Super / Hyper cars today have performance so far beyond what the buyer will ever extract that I’m willing to value form well over function in this class.
This just looks like the last 15 Ferrari models that I didn’t bother to learn the names of.
Gotta love that name, Bizzarrini, even if it does sounds like a Batman villian.
“Owned by a Saudi Arabian car dealer and with facilities in the U.K.,”
Who wants to make a bet that the ‘new Bizzarrini’ is a Saudi money laundering scheme?
Saudi money laundering scheme?
What is that? Do you dislike brown skinned people or do you belive that the Saudis are the only people that launder money?
Sounds like you are either racist or you are an employee of a US intelligence community and you are are performing propaganda to influence people on popular websites.
Trust me, the saudis have not cornered the market on money laundering. One merely needs to use Singapore, Doha, Hong Kong, Riga, New York, London, etc… you get the idea.
But you have the idea already and Saudi bad man! Or, you just don’t like brown people who dress differently? Racist, Liberal, or Intel. You, people, are all the same.
Jasper
P.S. the Bizzarini recreations are amazing!
This reaction seems a bit strong for Manwich’s comment. I don’t think he was saying all money laundering is done by the Saudi’s, and it’s a huge jump to say someone is racist.
There are lots of people who launder money, just as there are lots of people who murder journalists. But how many of them make neat automobiles?
You didn’t capitalize Saudi halfway through your spiel there. You some kind of bigot? Why don’t you think they deserve to be capitalized?
Clearly the OP doesn’t think that the Saudi’s are the only people to launder money, that’s why they specified a “Saudi money laundering scheme”, to differentiate it from a (much more common) “US money laundering scheme”.
Because that’s the nationality of the company owner? You sound like you need a bunch of different medications to calm down and maybe increase your reading comprehension. Is this supposed to be a parody of someone? I really can’t imagine reading that comment and genuinely having this reaction without some serious mental illness intervening.
Why would Saudis need to launder money?
That’s like smuggling cannabis into California.
“Why would Saudis need to launder money?”
For their Russian friends perhaps? Many people don’t realize that in recent years, Russia and Saudi Arabia have become diplomatically closer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Saudi_Arabia_relations#:~:text=The%20relations%20between%20Russia%20and,and%20other%20Middle%20Eastern%20countries.
There are a lot of countries where money laundering is not illegal. There are many more where the laws exist because of international pressure, but do not have any real teeth.
Any person with the means to buy a car brand and launch a re-birth of that brand could have very easy access to either of the above scenarios.
I too remember my first Photoshop render